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Tokyo Skyline

- jeeff - Sunday, May 29th, 2005 : goo

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taken from the observation deck (45th floor) at the tokyo metropolitan government building, north tower, in shinjuku, west central tokyo. (a note for potential tourists: this is free!)

image 2303

^ looking south-east across the center of tokyo. tokyo bay is off behind these buildings.

image 2304

^ a detail of the first photo. the building at the very left edge is the NTT Docomo building. they're the big state cable/phone company that was recently privatized. i've heard it said that this building is a rip-off of the . far off in the middle is the tokyo tower, a slightly larger copy of the . once it was tokyo's tallest building. on the right side, the tall building is the mori tower, tokyo's newest massive skyscraper, located in roppongi. it has an aquarium at the top, and quite a good art gallery.

image 2305

^ looking directly east. the arrow is pointing to the asakusa view hotel, the tallest building in the asakusa neighbourhood (28 floors). my apartment was practically in the shadow of this hotel. just in front of the hotel you can see the tokyo dome. i once walked from asakusa to shinjuku, the site of these photos, and it took about 3.5 hours. this area is all considered the core of tokyo. indeed, it's only a small section of the core.

image 2306

^ looking north across the suburbs into saitama prefecture. the city continues like this in all directions, unbroken across virtually the entire kanto plain. this includes both of japan's largest cities, tokyo and yokohama. in reality, they (and many others) have become one city, divided only along bureaucratic lines. the UN ranks tokyo/kanto as the world's largest urban agglomeration - a contiguous urbanized area without regards for administrative boundaries. the current top 10 (as of 2000) are as follows:

area / population

1. tokyo, japan / 26.4m
2. mexico city, mexico / 18.4m
3. bombay, india / 18.0m
4. são paulo, brazil / 17.8m
5. new york, usa / 16.6m
6. lagos, nigeria / 13.4m
7. los angeles, usa / 13.1m
8. calcutta, india / 12.9m
9. shanghai, china / 12.9m
10. buenos aires, argentina / 12.6m

more info (including past and future trends) at the excellent population reference bureau: www.prb.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PRB/Educators/Human_Population/Urbanization2/Patterns_of_World_Urbanization1.htm

image 2307

^ looking down into the streets of shinjuku's skyscraper district. tokyo has traditionally lacked the tall skyline of a western metropolis, but earthquake-resistant building techniques have progressed by leaps and bounds since 1980. clusters of skyscrapers have recently sprung up in shinjuku, shinagawa, akihabara and increasingly in many other spots.

This article has been viewed 12166 times in the last 3 years


ian: 29th May 2005 - 10:57 GMT

And the average American cannot even imagine such a place exists, from their comfortable La-Z-Boy in their small town tract house. The world is far too glorious for me to comprehend.

jeeff: 29th May 2005 - 16:07 GMT

yeah, the asian metropolises are pretty grand. they're like the dark side of the moon for westerners.

jeeff: 29th May 2005 - 16:09 GMT

while i was typing up the "agglomeration" list i thought that i'd love to try and visit all of them within my life.

tec: 16th Oct 2006 - 18:44 GMT

yo that is tight like it show more skyline view of tokyo please and give an number where i can contact you i want to come to tokyo

Jeff: 18th Feb 2007 - 03:44 GMT

That is absoultly amazeing Tokyo is one of prettiest cities on the planet and i belive its the biggest with 34 million people i am considering going to tokyo next sring to study abroad since i am an urban planning student and personally i just love to look at and read about city skylines, Cities/and there suberbs are the most exiting places to be in I would kill myself if i had to live way out in the country with nothing but animal friends to talk to, and see.

homeboy: 20th Apr 2007 - 23:19 GMT

hahaha u kidding? look at the skyline pic's looks so grundgy and just not pretty at all, buildings look really old and just ughh! i live in niagara falls canada wit a population of 100,000 and out skyline is way nice but if u check it out look for the future skyline of the falls to, AMAZINGGG

Jimi P. Haze: 26th Apr 2007 - 12:16 GMT


Hi,
I've lived in 4 different cities in the "Kanto plain" region (mentioned in the excerpt from this website) for twenty years, and the following excerpt from the website is not true:
"looking north across the suburbs into saitama prefecture, the city continues like this in all directions, unbroken across virtually the entire kanto plain". Look north of Tokyo on a map, and you'll see space and farmland. Look up the city of Utsunomiya, for example. J P Haze

serlingrod: 26th Apr 2007 - 13:14 GMT

I studied abroad in Tokyo last year while wrapping up my urban studies undergrad. Jeff, do yourself the favor and start planning now to study there. For those interested in urban development within a global context, Tokyo is THEE place to be. While Tokyo's racial demographic remains pretty much insular (there are few foreigners, or "gaijin" in the city, which is unique for a global city), the city ranks with NY and London in terms of social, cultural, and economic global capital. The above shots from the metropolitan building are great! The day I was there was slighty overcast....here's a pic from the building facing westward in the opposite direction, away from Tokyo City ("special wards") towards the Tama Area (Western Tokyo).

image 19799

FYI - the southside of Tokyo begins the Yokohama metro region, and as Jimi stated the northern region of Kanto is less dense.

Cinic: 26th Apr 2007 - 13:28 GMT

Serlingrod:
Where did you study in Tokyo? I would like to do the same for my last year in urbanplanning.

jeeff: 29th Apr 2007 - 22:46 GMT

jp haze: note "virtually", but maybe that was overstating it a bit. the tokyo metropolitan region (including yokohama) covers 83.5% of the kanto plain. i've seen the edge of suburban sprawl toward the north end of saitama-ku, but the patchwork pattern of sprawl means that the remaining agricultural lands often exist within a largely suburban milieu. andre sorenson has a book called 'the making of urban japan' that has some pretty striking maps and photographs of different land uses around the edge of the tokyo metropolitan region. that said, i'm sure that rural areas remain to be explored if you're willing to ride the train 2+ hrs outside of the capitol.

Adriel: 7th Sep 2007 - 12:09 GMT

Tokyo look so amazing I wish my country was developed as that

LA & NY ,USA: 9th Apr 2008 - 02:31 GMT

THE USA LOOKS BETTER....image 26865THIS IS LOS ANGELES CA..image 26866

AND THE EMPIRE STATE IN NEW YORK..image 26867
image 26868


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